Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Phenotypic Analysis Of Csld Genes In P. Patens, Kaitlyn Freeman

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

The moss Physcomitrum patens is an attractive model organism, due to its small genome and dominant haploid phase. P. patens has eight genes that form a family known as the Cellulose Synthase-Like Ds (CSLDs). A previous study using global knockdown of the entire PpCSLD family by RNA interference (RNAi) showed a decrease in protonemal tip growth, indicating that PpCSLDs play a role in protonemal growth. In order to study the roles of specific CSLDs in P. patens development, triple knockout mutants for PpCSLD3/4/5 were generated by CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis. Plant cell walls help plants deal with osmotic stress. Therefore a salt …

Physcomitrium Patens Csld Functional Analysis, Henry Purnell

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

Due to its small genome and dominant haploid life stage, Physcomitrium patens (formerly Physcomitrella patens) has become a model organism for studying plant genetics. The focus of this study was the Cellulose Synthase gene superfamily of P.patens, specifically the Cellulose Synthase-Like Ds (CSLD) family of genes. Previous studies into CSLD genes were preformed using RNA interference (RNAi) to preform a loss of function analysis on the entire PpCSLD gene family. The loss of function of the CSLD gene family resulted in inhibited protonemal tip growth indicating the CSLD gene family may regulate protonema formation. To further study the function of …

Protect The Kid Influencers, Taelyce Depina

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

Since the days of Shirly Temple, Hollywood has been tasked with the care of children thrust into the spotlight. Hollywood is usually filled with kids being forced into adult situations, missing out on a normal childhood, and developing severe trauma because of fame despite the many laws protecting them. However, these laws have not evolved to protect the modern-day child actors, kid influencers. Kid influencers are children who perform in videos that are posted on social media platforms for millions of people to see. They earn money through sponsored posts and views rather than being paid by a single corporation. …

Harm Reduction And Common Sense, Ryan Koch, Evan Smarinsky, Jessica Tardif, Christina Vasquez, Erin Thompson, Ju Nyeong Park

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

In 2022, over 100,000 people in the US died of drug overdose, with the majority of these deaths occurring without a bystander present. People who use drugs alone are at high risk for fatal overdoses. Sensors designed to alert responders to a potential overdose detect the reduction of micro-movements (e.g., respiratory distress) in single-occupancy bathrooms. Naloxone and harm reduction practices are commonsense implementations to reduce overdose deaths in our community.  Since January 2023, we conducted 70 structured surveys to organizations in overdose hotspots across eight townships in Rhode Island. Sites surveyed were categorized into food service, gas/service stations, housing facilities, …

Adversity In Childhood And Resilience Among Sgms, Katie Owen, Nicholas Matta, Emma Lipinski

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

This study will analyze data from the Health of Sexual & Gender Minorities Study (HSGMS) to determine if there is an association between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and resiliency in sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). Understanding the impact of childhood adversity on resilience is essential for developing effective interventions, promoting mental health, and creating supportive environments that empower SGMs to overcome the unique challenges that they often face. Our hypothesis is that there will be a negative correlation between adverse childhood experiences and resiliency among SGMs. The HSGMS is a quantitative, cross-sectional study conducted via a digital survey hosted on …

Partnered Status And Substance Misuse In Sgm, Carli Giacopelli, Jordan Suarez, Noella Ginolfi

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

The purpose of this research project is to examine the relationship between partner status and substance misuse. We believe that single persons have a higher likelihood of substance misuse compared to other relationship status.We focused specifically on binge drinking, cannabis misuse, and cigarette smoking. The partner status that we focus on are no partner (single), causal, monogamy, consensual non-monogamy, and non-consensual monogamy. The goal of this study is to see the association between different relationship statuses and different kinds of substance misuse, using a large nationwide sample of sexual and gender minority persons.

Heroin Use In The Sgm Community, Zoe Savage, Angelia Bowers, Ryan Cassar, Olivia Phelps

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

The heroin epidemic continues to rip through the United States, drug overdose statistically being the leading cause of death among those under age 50 in 2018. We aim to focus our research on Sexual and Gender Minorities. In the U.S., many individuals initiate the use of some substances during adolescence. However, youth with SGM identities demonstrate disparities in substance use across multiple substances. The purpose of this study is to examine the ongoing prevalence of heroin usage among SGM communities and what can be done to provide adequate resources for those seeking treatment. Another idea for comparison our research hopes …

Mental Health Clinicians In Law Enforcement, Gillian Plude

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

Mental health clinicians are needed in the law enforcement field to further prevent the wrongful incarceration of those enduring crises. More often than not, when officers have arrived on the scene of a 911 call, the individual in question has put themselves or others in danger due to an altered mental state. While this could be attributed to drug usage, addiction also falls under the umbrella of a mental disorder, and the incarceration of those with this issue does nothing to resolve the problem at hand. Furthermore, we have seen increased rates of overpopulation in our prison system for years, …

Climate, Disease, And Upheaval In The Turkic World In The 14th-15th Centuries, Uli Schamiloglu

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper examines the role of climate and disease as a major factor resulting in disruption and upheaval in the Turkic world in the 14th-15th centuries. The first issue the paper addresses is the beginning of the climatic downturn in circa 1280, which will ultimately culminate in the Little Ice Age of the late 15th-18th centuries. The paper cites recent work on the role of climate in the History/ Archaeology of Iran. While the author has explored this issue in detail for the History/ Archaeology of the Golden Horde, the impact of climate change on Iran in the 14th15th centuries …

Ūzūn Ḥasan And Timurid Legitimacy, John E. Woods

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Readings In Western Philosophy For Louisiana Learners, Jeff Mclaughlin, Marco Altamarino (Editor), Ryland Johnson (Editor), Peter Klubek (Editor), Michael Martin (Editor)

Open Educational Resources

It is important for students not only to get an appreciation and understanding of philosophy but also to be exposed to the very words and ideas of those who have shaped our thinking over the centuries. Accordingly, the title of this collection hints at the facts that these readings are from the original sources and that these philosophers were the originators of many of the issues we still discuss today.

Major areas of philosophy covered here are Ethics, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Sociopolitical Philosophy, and finally, Aesthetics.

Bloom: A Microbial Self-Portrait, Emily Lauren Mulvaney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Green Poems, Lillian I. Emerick Valentine

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

With broad lyric range, the ecopoems in Green center around the ideology and ethics of the American West. The speaker’s position within that as a descendent of settler laborers is interrogated, as well as language itself. Grammar is used as a tool to perform deconstructive work, examining how labor intersects with colonialism and climate change. Melding intellectual analyses of etymology with the physical act of agricultural labor, these poems range from the conversational and playful to lyric explorations of loss.

Interwoven with this is the speaker’s self-examination of femininity and matrilinear inheritance. How do we use the language we’ve been …

Andrew Tate, Matt Walsh, And The Discursive Production And Policing Of Gender, Alan J. Bandyk, Alan J. Bandyk

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis utilizes the works of Judith Butler, Simone de Beauvoir, Frederic Jameson, and Edward Said in a discourse analysis of influencers and writers in the right wing "manosphere." The figures analyzed herein are Andrew Tate and Matt Walsh. Their rhetoric aims to create a discursive woman who embodies traditional notions of gender and sex that de Beauvoir critiqued in 1949. The constant adherence and reference to a mythical past exhibits ways of thinking that coincide perfectly with Jameson's own theoretical work with the term and its inherent false nostalgia. Tate's and Walsh's efforts also fall into discursive attempts at …

The Mediation Of Critical Themes Of Motherhood Studies In Storytelling: The Case Of The Girl Who Drank The Moon, Catalina Millán Scheiding

Faculty Works

By contemplating the emotional and intellectual link between the reader and the book, this article considers how a contemporary text might respond to current motherhood studies’ issues, and how these studies are mediated to be considered appropriate for an audience of young readers. A psychosocial research strategy is used, through a feminist theoretical framework, to analyze how the young adult novel The Girl Who Drank the Moon incorporates key ideas of motherhood studies through characters’ agency and the storytelling arch. Motherhood is represented as an institution, an individual identity and an emotional experience, and the novel offers the young reader …

Pauline Echoes In The Preaching And Activism Of Francis James Grimké (1850–1937): Confronting Ethnic Prejudice Through An Evangelical Emancipatory Homiletic (Eeh), Eric J. Freeman

Dissertations

Pauline Echoes in the Preaching and Activism of Francis James Grimké (1850–1937): Confronting Ethnic Prejudice through an Evangelical Emancipatory Homiletic examines how Grimké’s sermons and public discourse, rooted in the proclaimed and embodied gospel of Jesus Christ and resonant with the Apostle Paul’s hermeneutic and pastoral heart, addressed social injustices—particularly ethnic prejudice—through a distinct, socially conscious homiletic. This research defines Grimké’s unique homiletic as an Evangelical Emancipatory Homiletic (EEH), a term coined here to convey the gospel-embodied, contextually aware nature of his ministry. Framed within the practical theology of homiletics, this study illustrates how Grimké’s EEH incorporated textual and thematic …

Spiritual Grounding As An Influence On Servant Leadership Practice Among Senior Executives In U.S. Publicly Traded Companies, Nancy K. Bosire

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the influence of spiritual grounding on the practice of servant leadership among senior executives in publicly traded companies in the United States (U.S.). The research problem centers on the potential marginalization of individuals aspiring to practice servant leadership without spiritual grounding. The study aims to investigate whether spiritual grounding is foundational for servant leadership practice and to examine the relationship between servant leadership, spiritual grounding, and reliance on authoritative sources. Through a comprehensive review and analysis of existing literature, this research identifies a gap in understanding the role of spirituality and authoritative sources in servant leadership practices. …

We Are Dust, Emily Niebuhr

Intertidal

No abstract provided.

Emirati Comics & Illustrations, Sarah Laura Nesti Willard

CoHSS Faculty Work

No abstract provided.

Portraying Women In Eugene O’Neill Plays: How Life Affects Art And How Art Is Made Manifest, Charity M. Turley

Senior Honors Theses

Throughout his career, Eugene O’Neill wrote plays with strong and compelling female characters which have earned him much recognition. O’Neill’s ability to perceivably tap into a humans’ psyche and portray the deep desires of humanity was done to an extent rarely portrayed on the stage before; especially giving such complex characteristics to women, which was unconventional and unexpected for his time. Many have asked, therefore, what led O’Neill to write women as boldly as he did? It is known that his formative familial and romantic relationships were plagued by hardship, even so, he admitted to writing many of his characters …

Exploring The Leadership Competence Strategies And Assessment Procedures In Southern Baptist Churches In A Small County In The Southeastern United States: A Qualitative Research Case Study, Coleman F. Smoak Jr.

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the strategies of Southern Baptist churches which contribute to the competence of their lay leadership. It examines the procedures for evaluating lay leaders’ knowledge of church doctrine and goals, as well as their motivation for pursuit of successful ministry. The research assessed Southern Baptist churches in a small county in the Southeastern United States through a qualitative case study with the primary research instrument being one-on-one, semi-structured interviews of church staff. The researcher sought an understanding of these churches’ practices to ensure that lay leaders are equipped for their ministry positions with regard to their leadership approaches, …

Connectedness To Others Through Virtual Social Music Improvisation, Jody Webb

Dissertations

This mixed methods action research intervention study analyzed the influence of social music improvisation (SMI) on students' behaviors and perceptions of their connectedness to others in a virtual middle school classroom setting. Nine 10-minute SMI sessions allowed for the accumulation of data, with two additional pre-sessions being informative and exploratory to describe the SMI intervention and practice its aspects with participants in the intervention group. This study acquired pretest and posttest data from the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness (Karcher, 2005) and observational information through process coding and field notes. Results showed how the presence or absence of SMI influenced …

A Growing Willow: The Six Rs Indigenous Research Framework—Stories Of The Native American Faculty Journey In Stem, Ranalda L. Tsosie, Ke Wu, Anne D. Grant, Jennifer Harrington, Stephan T. Chase, Aaron Thomas, Damian Chase-Begay, Selena Beaumont Hill, Annjeanette Belcourt, Ruth Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills

Leadership Studies Faculty Scholarship

Native American faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (NAF-STEM) disciplines are historically underrepresented. Creating inclusive academia for Indigenous people that typically live and thrive in rural communities requires insights into their personal, relational, and collective experiences. This study was guided by the Six Rs: relationship, respect, responsibility, relevance, representation, and reciprocity, and was informed by Indigenous Research Methodologies. Twelve NAF-STEM from tribal colleges and non-tribal institutions were asked to share their perspectives and experiences in seven Research Circles. NAF-STEM joined sequential hybrid workshops over seven weeks on how to conduct qualitative data analysis. Authors conducted analysis on the transcripts …

Does Earth Feel? (2021) By Marc Majewski, Alaina Gostomski

Picture Books

With spare prose and evocative paintings, author-illustrator Marc Majewski asks fourteen critical questions -- including Does Earth feel calm? Does Earth feel curious? Does Earth feel hurt? Does Earth feel heard? -- to encourage active thinking and discussion about our planet.

Encyclopedia Of Gardening For Colored Children (2024) By Jamaica Kincaid, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

In relating the origins, biological features, and uses of several familiar and unfamiliar plants, this Encyclopedia simultaneously offers a primer on colonialism, slavery, and genocide. Adults sharing this book with children should be led by children’s curiosity, but should also help them cultivate a vocabulary and historical understanding of oppression.

Gibberish (2022) By Young Vo, Peter Shea

Picture Books

Everyone sometimes doesn’t understand what is going on, can’t find a way in, and everyone in that situation has impulses to retreat and to growl. Gibberish takes the point of view of the newcomer, the non-native speaker. One of the virtues of this presentation is that many people will say: yes, that’s what it was like – when I started school; the first day of my new job; when I first opened the chemistry book; when I landed in Vienna; as the first person in my family to go to college; when I started playing violin. And that common topic …

Cat Way (2024) By Sara Lundberg, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

When a human gives her cat a turn to lead the way on their daily walk, they encounter the unexpected. The philosophical quandaries this story raises – When do routines become too confining? How do domestic habits prevent us from experiencing the natural world? Can humans and pets have genuinely inter-species relationships? – can be discussed and experimented with by people of most ages.

Simone (2024) By Viet Thanh Nguyen, Peter Shea

Picture Books

When Simone is awakened by her mom as a wildfire threatens their home, it is the beginning of a life-changing journey. Coziness and comfort disappear in an instant, without much warning, as wildfires threaten peaceful neighborhoods and families seek makeshift shelters, with little hope of going back to normal. Joined by other children sheltering in the gym, Simone, a budding artist, encourages everyone to draw as a way to process their situation.

Blackout (2011) By John Rocco, Peter Shea

Picture Books

In this Caldecott Honor Book, Blackout, a hot urban night takes an interesting turn when the power goes out and an urban family -- each busy with something that requires electricity -- discover new things about themselves and their community.

Hurricane (2021) By John Rocco, Peter Shea

Picture Books

This book pictures the devastation of today's powerful storms. The hurricane wrecks things and drives people from their homes. The boy in the story finds his beloved dock broken up, where he used to swim and fish. The story centers on cooperation and neighborhood resilience: people can get through disasters if they work together.